关键词: 电化学储能, 液态金属电极, 液态金属电池, 钠硫电池, ZEBRA电池

Abstract:

Electrochemical energy storage technologies (ESTs) with low cost, long lifespan and high safety are of great importance for efficient integration of renewable energy into the grid. Liquid metal electrodes (LMEs) possessing the merits of high electronic conductivity, easy manufacture and amorphous structure is of great application value in the field of energy storage batteries. During charge-discharge processing, the LMEs could avoid the issues of structural deformation and dendrite growth in solid metal electrodes, which could effectively extend the cycle life of the LME based batteries. Moreover, LME based batteries are easy to be scaled up and less expensive, which are well-positioned to satisfy the demands of grid-scale energy storage. In this paper, the state-of-the-art overview of LMEs in batteries including liquid metal batteries (LMBs), sodium-sulfur (Na||S) and ZEBRA (Na||NiCl₂) batteries is presented. The materials systems, reaction mechanisms and novel designing in LMBs are emphatically discussed. Besides the LMEs, the developments of the molten salts electrolytes and solid state electrolytes, and the multi-field coupled flows inside LMBs are summarized. The challenges for the applications of LMEs in the batteries, such as high temperature sealing and corrosion, are discussed. Finally, the prospects of the application of LMEs in the field of the ESTs are also described.

Key words: electrochemical energy storage, liquid metal electrodes, liquid metal batteries, Na, S batteries, ZEBRA batteries